Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) - Lot 191

Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) Seated harlequin with mandolin Model created in 1926 Brown patina bronze Bears the founder's stamp "C. VALSUANI CIRE PERDUE H. 21.5 cm, terrace W. 12.7 x D. 11.8 cm Related work: -Jacques Lipchitz, Arlequin assis avec mandoline, 1926, bronze, H. 21 cm, no. 190a in the 1996 catalog raisonné. Related literature: -Jacques Lipchitz, My life in sculpture, London, Thames and Hudson, 1972, p. 96 ; -Alan Wilkinson, The sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: a catalog raisonné, New York, Thames and Hudson, 1996, Vol. 2, model listed as n°190a, p. 20 ; -José Francisco Yvars, Lipchitz: un mundo sorprendido en el espacio, cat. exp. Madrid, museo nacional centro Reina Sofía, May 20-September 2, Valencia, IVAM Centro Julio Gonzalez, September 18-November 30, 1997, Madrid, museo nacional centro Reina Sofía, 1997, model listed under no. figura 20, p. 79; -Brigitte Léal, Jacques Lipchitz: collections du center Pompidou, cat. exp. exhibition, Nancy, musée des beaux-arts, December 17 2004-March 14 2005, Calais, musée des beaux-arts et de la dentelle, April 7-August 29 2005, Paris, Centre Pompidou, 2004, p. 174 ; Between 1924 and 1926, Jacques Lipchitz worked on a series of sculptures evoking the themes of music and the circus, which he called "transparents". In a break with Cubism, these clerestory sculptures, in which emptiness prevails and supple forms tend to distance themselves from Cubist forms. Our bronze is probably the example listed under no. 190a in A. Wilkinson's catalog raisonné. "These transparencies, which came to me unawares, were a fantastic experience. In previous years, I had been working on an ever more solid and monumental form of expression. Suddenly, I found myself playing with space, with a kind of open, lyrical construction, which acted on me like a revelation. I have no idea how I got there. It just happened; but it was an ecstatic experience. It was as if I'd discovered an entirely new concept of sculpture as space, the immaterial soul of sculpture rather than its physical corporeity." -Jacques Lipchitz, My life in sculpture, 1972.